Twenty Four Hours, continued
by deLattre
Summary: A continuation of the fanfic "Twenty Four Hours", by Pikastarr.
1. Unexpected events

The sun was beginning to set as two figures crossed the street, one skipping, the other walking.

"Almost there, Numbuh Three. It's the next house ter the right." _Ah just hope we can get upstairs without attracting any attention._

"Wally, this is so exciting! You know, I don't think I've ever been to your home before. What's it like?

"Eh, it's jus' like any old house, Kuki." He suddenly noticed that she was holding his hand. As gently as possible, he extracted it. _Not the right time_. Feeling slightly apprehensive, Wally opened the door. He wheeled around to usher Kuki in, and when he wheeled back his parents were standing there. _Great. So much for not attracting any attention._

"Evening, son. And who is this, your girlfriend?"

"She is not mah girlfriend!"

What's your name, dear?" asked his mother.

"Kuki Sanban.! I met Wally in kindergarten, and we've been best friends ever since.

"Kuki, of course, I remember you! exclaimed . Well, that explains the drawing you've been working on, Wally."

"Mom, no!"

"I knew it was one of your friends, but wasn't sure which one. Have to say, you've done an great job of drawing-

"NO!

"Kuki here."

"All roight, that's it, we're out of here! C'mon Numbuh Three!" He fled to his room, dragging Kuki with him. Much to his annoyance, he noticed that she was giggling.

"What's so funny?" he seethed.

"Oh, Wally, she replied, did you really draw a picture of me?"

"Yes. It's for yer birthday. But it was meant ter be a surprise."

"That doesn't matter. It's the nicest thing you've ever done for me!" And she pulled him into a tight hug. This time, he allowed himself to savor the feeling. He wrapped his own arms around her and rested his head against hers. Amazing...how could a hug with this girl feel so good?

Nonetheless, he disengaged fairly quickly.

"Yeah, yeah, let's just find that movie and get back ter the treehouse."

"Wait, aren't we staying here?"

"I'd rather we be by ourselves, if that's all roight with you. "I don't want anyone-he paused as Joey snapped a picture of them from the hallway-bothering us."

"Fair enough. Let's go."

Back at the treehouse, Wally eagerly inserted the DVD and turned on the television. "This isn't too scary, is it, Wally?"

"Nah, nothin' too bad. The only-" But he stopped short. The Delightful Children were on the TV screen.

"Huh?"

"Strange, they look very familiar..."

"Hello, Kids Next Door. Or should we say, Wallace and Kuki. We enjoyed playing with you so much today, we left you a little present. It's a device attached to your TV antenna, which leaves you just one channel. A channel with twenty four hours of Rainbow Monkey entertainment." "Stupid Delightful Dorks! We'll just go to my house!" "Now, we suppose you'll just go to your houses." "Damn roight!" "Then you should know we've also made some modifications to the antennas at your homes. But don't worry, we're not unreasonable. We'll give you back your precious channels. All we ask for in exchange is the plan of the Really Really Incredibly Destructive Machine that you stole last week. Or you can watch Rainbow Monkey movies for days on end. The choice is yours."

They smiled eerily, and the screen went black. Immediately, Wally stood up and began pacing around frantically. "Kuki, what are we going to do? Ah can't survive without TV!"

"Calm down, silly! We'll just wait for Numbuh Two to fix the antenna."

"But he won't be back for another twelve hours! Ah don't want to wait that long!"

"Well, why don't we watch one of the Rainbow Monkey movies instead?"

She just had to say it. "Oh no. Absolutely not, Numbuh Three. Not on yer life."

"Come on, Wally! At least give it a try! Please?" Wally considered his options. On one hand, he hated this franchise with a passion, and twelve hours without TV wasn't that long. On the other, he didn't want to hurt Kuki's feelings again.

"All roight, fine." "Thanks." She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Let's just...get this over with. Wait, what are ya doing?" She was using the remote to flip from one movie to another, apparently dissatisfied with the current film.

"Nope, nope, nope. Nope. Ah ha!", she said triumphantly. This one is perfect."

The movie they ended up watching was called _The love of a leader_. Wally tried to follow the story, but it was hopeless. He simply coudn't fake an interest in girly stuff, and this was as girly as it got. Eventually, he closed his eyes. The day's emotions had left him exhausted, and the rainbow monkeys' voice had a sopophoric quality. The couch was so soft...

"Wally, wake up! Look, Grandpa Monkey and Flopsy are having a fight!"

"No way! Wait...ah don't see any fighting!" "It's right in front of you."

"Kuki, he said angrily, they're just insulting each other! That's not fighting!"

"Yes it is. It's the worst type of fighting possible!"

Wally groaned inwardly. _I cannot believe I'm putting up with this crud!_

_Then ya must really loike her._

_Ah do not._

_Come on, ya can't lie to yerself. Tell her already._

_Why do ah have to make the first move? Why can't she do it?_

_Maybe she's afraid._

_Maybe I'm afraid.  
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_Ah thought ya weren't afraid of anything?  
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_Shut up. Ah'm going back to sleep._

When he reopened his eyes, the first thing he noticed was that Kuki's fists were clenched.

"He has to come back. He just has to! Tell me he'll come back, Numbuh Four!"she pleaded. Who on earth is she talking about?

"Ah'm sure he'll come back, Kooks. Ah'm sure he will."

After this Wally stayed awake, but the plot didn't get any more interesting. Until...

"Wally,Wally, you have to see this, said Kuki excitedly! You're on TV!"

"Wot? You're joking!"

"No, I'm serious. See, it's a flashback scene, and the Rainbow Monkey Leader is explaining to his friend how you taught him to swim."

Sure enough, on the screen, Wally was explaining how to swim to a familiar rainbow monkey."

**"Now, I'll show ya one more time. Remember, ya lie flat in the water, ya kick yer legs up and down, and then ya move yer arms forward. One at a time. Like this. Got it? Good, now it's time for you to try it out.**

"Ah can't believe it, said Wally in surprise. It's the Rainbow Monkey ah tried ter teach to be wild, when ah got stuck on Rainbow Monkey island."

"You never told us you spent time with the rainbow monkeys, Numbuh 4."

"Ah meant to tell you guys, but something came up. What ah'd loike ter know is, who could 'ave filmed this scene?"

"I really don't know", lied Kuki, knowing fully well that one of her friends had filmed the scene.

"Huh. Oh well."

**Come on, ya idiot! Why are ya afraid of the water? It's not gonna eat you! The purple animal merely stood with its arms to its face, whimpering. "Foine. Just forget it! Ah give up". So saying, Wally walked away.**

**Denied his goodbye hug, however, the rainbow monkey flew into a rage. He roared, bared his fangs, and ran towards the boy. Terrified, Wally did the first thing that came to his mind. He jumped into the lake and swam far away from the shore. This proved futile, though: the ape was so angry it leapt into the water and swam after him.**

**"Ah crud. So now it can swim! Wait, it can swim...Look, you big dolt, you're swimming! The creature stopped, squealing in delight. And then kept moving and extracted his hug from Wally anyway. Here the flashback ended, and the giant Rainbow Monkey reconciled with Bubbleberry, his estranged friend.**

"Maybe ah was wrong, reflected Wally. This stuff isn't bad after all." Then Bubbleberry kicked off a musical number about forgiveness, trust, and love. "Or maybe it is", he sighed. Fortunately, there wasn't long to go. Once the song had finished, the two Rainbow Monkeys joined hands and set off for home. Fade to credits.

Wally stood up, while Kuki gazed at the TV soulfully.

"Wasn't that amazing, Wally? Who would have thought that one day, you'd feature on a Rainbow Monkey film?"

"Yeah, that was pretty cool. Can ya jus' do me one favor, though?

"What is it?"

"Promise me ya won't tell the others ah watched the movie."

"I'll think about it", she said mischievously.

"Ya had better promise, or else..."

"Or else what?"

"Or else ah'll do this!"

He reached out and started tickling her.

"Eeeeeeeeeeh! Wally, stop!" She fled to the kitchen, closely followed by the Aussie.

"Ya can run, but ya can't hide! He burst into the room-she was near the sink. But as he approached he did a double-take: she was pointing a water hose straight at him.

"All right, now back off, squirt. Or prepare for the most unpleasant water fight of your life! " "No way. Ah' never back down from a fight!" With a scream, he charged at her. Splooosh! The hose was unleashed, soaking the blond-haired boy.

"If you think a little-uuuh-water's gonna stop me!"

After a short struggle, he managed to wrench the hose from Kuki's grasp. He threw it aside and mercilessly dug his fingers into the girl's upper body.

"Hahahahaha-please, Wally, no more! I got soaked as well!"

"Not unless you promise not to tell the others!"

"I said-ehehhehee-I said I'd think about it!"

After about a minute, she sank to the ground, convulsing with laughter. "All right, all right, you win. I promise!" Victorious, Wally turned off the hose (noting in the process that half the kitchen was flooded). He then faced his friend and tried to act smug . But the sheer ridiculousness of the situation overcame his facade, and he joined Kuki on the floor, both of them laughing uncontrollably. At length they calmed down.

"This is even more fun than food fighting! We should do it again tomorrow. But with no tickling allowed."

"Yeah. Sure. But roight now we should probably get some dry clothes." He helped her up.

"Numbuh 3? Numbuh 4? What's going on here?" They turned to see Hoagie standing at the door.


	2. The game goes on

"Numbuh 2!"

"What are you doing here?"Aren't ya supposed ter be on the mission?"

"Well, we got sent home early. There was an incident. But what happened to you? Why is there water everywhere?" He looked around, confused.

"All right, where are they?" Ponderous footsteps announced the entrance of Nigel. "Numbuh 3, Numbuh 4, I gave you specific-_what is going on here_?"

"Um, hi Numbuh One. What happened ter yer eye? "

"Never mind that. I entrusted you two with monitor duty, he said dangerously, and we come back to find you here, with the kitchen turned into a lake. Explain yourselves!"

"Well see, Numbuh One, it's loike this, there was, um, a water leak!"

"Uh huh. And what is that hose doing on the floor?"

"Well, afta the pipes leaked, we were attacked by the Delightful Children, and, um, they put the hose outside to frame us!" There was a moment of silence, during which only Hoagie, Abby and Kuki's stifled giggles could be heard.

"Yeah, riiight..."

"Nice try, Numbuh Four. Could you honestly make up a worse excuse?"

"We were just having a water fight, Numbuh One, Kuki confessed brightly. You're not mad, are you?"

"Mad? You abandoned your posts and seriously damaged the kitchen floor. Of course I'm mad!" As he lectured them, a crazy idea entered Kuki: she really wanted to turn the hose (which she had just picked up) on Nigel and show him what she thought of his crabbiness. All it would take was a flick of the faucet... But common sense prevailed over mischievousness, and she stowed away the utensil.

"I think you're making too big a deal of this, Numbuh One, intervened Abby. It's just a little bit of water- "Don't interrupt me, Numbuh Five! Normally, I should punish the two of you. But this time, I'll be tolerant. Just make sure to clean up the mess." And he stormed off.

"Geez, why is Numbuh One such a meanie all the sudden?" asked Kuki.

"Something upsetting happened to him during our mission. We were supposed to track down and attack a base of adult villains somewhere on East Coast. We tracked it down, but then Numbuh One thought we should disable the defenses of their base from the inside, and Numbuh 86 thought we should attack them frontally."

"So they got into a fight, continued Abby, and Numbuh One lost. Plus, it got him sent home. We have to go easy on him for few days."

"Ouch. So that's why he's upset."

"He lost ter a girl? Poor Nigel."

"Anyway, asked Hoagie smirking, besides having a water fight, what did you get up to while we were gone?"

"Ah, nothing much. We had a food fight, watched a movie, and danced together. That's pretty much it." The words had escaped him before he knew what he was saying.

Both Abby and Hoagie's eyes widened in surprise. They were so surprised, in fact, that they forgot to laugh at the blond-haired boy, or his rapidly blushing face. Since when did Wally admit to dancing with Kuki?

"Wow. It's good to hear you had fun. Numbuh Five'll leave you guys to clean up, then. Come on Numbuh 2, let's go play Halo 3." They withdrew, leaving Wally and Kuki alone.

"Yay! Mr. Mopsy time again!"

"Yeah, hooray. Just don't make me wear an apron again."

Cleaning up was only marginally quieter this time: Kuki insisted on putting "Time of my life" on her stereo and dancing to the music, looking like she was performing a musical number. Five minutes into the task, she also began throwing the buckets into the sink rather than carrying them.

"Wheeee! Heads up, Wally!" He grunted in annoyance as a bucket soared overhead, missing the sink with a tremendous crash.

"Kuki, why do ya have ter make a game out of everything?"

"Oh, you're just annoyed because I can throw farther than you!"

"Wot! There ain't no way a girl can beat me in a throwing contest!"

"Oh really? Then why don't you prove it, mister bigmouth?"

Five minutes later, they were engaged in a spectacular contest of who could throw the most buckets into the sink.

"Wallabee shoots...he scores! That's 7 to 5!"

"Hey, no fair, she pouted. You weren't behind the line. It's 6-5!"

"I was behind the line!"

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Was not! Wait, ah got a better idea. Instead of throwing the pails, why don't we just catapult them?"

"How?"

"With Numbuh Two's catapult, of course! Hold on, ah'll go ask him right now." He ran off, only to return a minute later looking disappointed. "It didn't work. Numbuh Two says he's forbidden from giving us any ballistic material. And he wants us to stop our contest. It's distracting him from his game of Halo."

Kuki smirked knowingly. "Why, is he losing?"

"He's not losing, he's getting slaughtered. Oh well, let's just get this over with." Truth be told, Wally was glad to stop playing. A familiar concern had just crept into his head.

_Now's the roight moment. Tell her._

_Not now._

_How hard is it ter say? Ye're just trying ter tell the girl you loike her_

_Foine, foine! But then another voice entered his mind._

_It doesn't matter what you say._

_What?_

_No matter wot you say roight now, you'll both be decommissioned on your thirteenth birthday. And then ya won't know her anymore. _

_No. Ah won't let myself decommissioned._

_Everyone gets decomissioned. No one escapes . Numbuh One himself said so._

_They were going to forget each other. Oh, the pain...it hit Wally again, and again, and again, like a hammer._

"Wally, is something wrong?" He snapped out of his thoughts to see that Kuki was looking at him with concern.

"What do ya mean?"

"I mean, you like there's something on your mind, silly."

He took a deep breath.

"Actually, there's something I've been wanting to tell you for a long time now.

"Yes, Numbuh Four?"

"This is really hard for me to say, but I...

"_Yes_?!

"I...

She smiled widely, perhaps knowing what he trying to say, but then her face fell. Wally was staring at the ground miserably. "Numbuh Four!" she exclaimed. "What's wrong?"

"It's just, ah just realized, none of this matters. In six months, we're getting decommissioned, and then ah'll never see you again."

"No,Wally. I won't let that happen. I don't care what I have to do, but I won't let us be decommissioned. We'll be all right. Trust me."

"Ya...Ya really think so?"

She gently lifted his face so that they made eye contact. "I'm sure".

He threw himself into her arms. "Kuki?, he said quietly.

"Hmmhmm?"

"Ah'm glad we spent the day together."


End file.
